Florida veteran leaves woodland for friends

Howard Altman: Homeless veteran finally agrees to leave the woods behind
Tampa Bay Times
Howard Altman
August 9, 2018

"You know the answer to that," he said, laughing again. "Out in the woods I have the animals — the hawks, squirrels, rabbits and coyotes. Here, I just have my two friends sitting here."

Two people who work with the homeless, Hillsborough sheriff's Deputy Luke Hussey, left, and Thomas Brown, right, finally persuaded veteran Randy Strieby to trade his life in the woods for a hotel room and soon, for an apartment. [Courtesy of Thomas Brown]

Thomas "T-Man" Brown called me up Wednesday afternoon with news that came as a welcome surprise.

A former Army staff sergeant who works with Tampa Crossroads helping homeless veterans, Brown was exuberant.

"Randy the roofer is finally coming out of the woods!"

The last time I saw Randy Strieby, 67, was nearly two years ago. I was traveling with Brown on a mission to Ruskin to find this veteran, who had been living in the woods.

A small, wiry man wearing a dirty green shirt and sweat pants emerged from behind a clump of trees.
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CombatPTSD Wounded Times 11 Years Old

Eleven years ago today, a Marine serving in Iraq, decided to reach out to me on my old site. He wrote that while he liked what I was doing on PTSD, he did not want to have to get through my political BS.

The fact that I had fallen into the same trap I always complained about, did not dawn on me. I got defensive and my temper came out in full force.

I replied with a nasty email explaining to him how many hours I spent doing this work and then proceeded to "teach" him a lesson, basically suggesting that if he did not like what I wrote, he should go elsewhere.

Ya, I know, you're shaking your head right now. 

Well, the Marine had enough class to see right through what I wrote. He emailed one simple question. "Are you doing this for us or yourself?"

When I stopped crying enough to be able to see the computer screen again, I emailed him back a promise that I would start another site. I would never get involved in political crap again. I promised that he would only read about a politician doing something to them they needed to be held accountable for, or did something for them, they should be praised for.

I kept my word and it has not been easy at all but the Marine taught me a lesson. I finally understood that I did not know who I was hurting by what I wrote. Much like most of my friends to not know the are hurting me with what they post on Facebook. 

This site is for a purpose and that is about putting veterans on top for a change.

It is not about making money, since I lost over $3,000 last year. It isn't about fame, since I get introduced as "the most famous person you never heard of" most of the time. It isn't about what people just post, but taken from local level news sites across the country and in several other NATO countries. None of us got any of this right, so it is good to see what is happening to veterans all over, plus a lot of my readers are overseas.

There are 29,345 posts on this site and as of right now, 3,846,912 page views.

All this goes to show is that veterans do matter to a lot of people and they do in fact want the truth!

And to my loyal readers...thank you for sharing this because your word is all I have to get this work shared! I am blessed that you found me~

Lloyd Theodore Maxwell, Canadian homeless veteran lonely death

Lloyd Maxwell died alone but not unnoticed
Ottawa Citizen
BRUCE DEACHMAN
August 9, 2018

Lloyd Maxwell’s noon-hour funeral service on Wednesday at Beechwood Cemetery took less than seven minutes, his flag-draped coffin lowered into the ground shortly after Father Jeffrey King sprinkled holy water and poured sand on the casket in the shape of a cross.

Funeral for Lloyd Maxwell, a homeless veteran who lived at the Salvation Army. WAYNE CUDDINGTON / POSTMEDIA

“May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace,” King said. “Amen.”

In the distance, under steel-grey skies, a bugle played The Last Post. It would be nice to think it was playing for Maxwell, who served from 1969 to ‘71 as a reservist with The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, but that was not the case. Those particular notes and their timing were a coincidence, marking someone else’s passing, in another section of the cemetery.

Lloyd Theodore Maxwell died of natural causes on July 22, homeless but for those he knew in his final handful of years in residence at the Salvation Army Booth Centre shelter in the ByWard Market. He was 65.
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Canadian veteran served 3 tours, ended life at Armoury

Leaving armed forces can create a deadly loss of identity, says top military psychiatrist
CBC News
Posted: Aug 08, 2018

Young veterans leaving the forces are at the highest risk of suicide, says the chief psychiatrist overseeing their care in Canada.

Master Cpl. Joseph Allina during one of three tours in Afghanistan before he retired from the military in 2016. The 35-year-old killed himself in July after struggling with PTSD. (Submitted by Sandra Weissinger)

And a suicide prevention strategy released last year to address this crucial period was not enough to save Master Cpl. Joseph Allina, who took his life in front of the Seaforth Armoury in Vancouver last month. He had retired from the armed forces in 2016 and was a day shy of his 36th birthday when he died.

"This points to the importance of that transition period," Veterans Affairs Canada chief psychiatrist Dr. Alexandra Heber told The Early Edition host Stephen Quinn on Wednesday.

A major study by Veteran Affairs Canada, Health Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces concluded last year that veterans are committing suicide in Canada at a much higher rate than the general population. 

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Should not be OK in OK:Crashed internet bad but cell phones good?

State lawmakers allege Veterans Affairs committed HIPAA violation; director calls that 'unfathomable'
NewsOK
Justin Wingerter
Published: Wed, August 8, 2018

Three state legislators have called for the firing of two Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs leaders, alleging they violated federal privacy laws — an allegation the agency's executive director called “unfathomable.”

A resident sits in the hallway in the special needs unit at the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs' Talihina Veterans Center in this photo from 2017. [Photo by Mike Simons, Tulsa World file]

In a letter to Gov. Mary Fallin, Democratic Reps. Brian Renegar, Chuck Hoskin and David Perryman requested Fallin fire Veterans Affairs Executive Director Doug Elliott and clinical compliance director Tina Williams.

The lawmakers claim the crash of internet access and Veterans Affairs software on July 24 prompted Veterans Affairs leadership to order employees at the state's seven care centers to copy patient medical records onto the employees' personal cellphones.

“This is a direct violation of federal HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations,” the legislators told Fallin. They say the alleged HIPAA violation “could jeopardize the millions of federal funding dollars coming to our Oklahoma veterans.”
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